As part of the release of the hardcover/ e-book release of my book, Walking as Artistic Practice (softcover comes out in April!), I’m going to be publishing some brief interviews with the various artists, authors, researchers, creatives, collectives, and platforms whose art practice, written material, or other works I cite and mention.

My 15th interview in this series is with François Morelli. Born in Tiohtià-ke (Montreal), François Morelli has been performing and exhibiting his work since 1974. Since, his practice has been interdisciplinary, performative, and relational. He began teaching in 1981 and retired from Concordia University in 2019.  He shares his life with the art and design historian Diane Charbonneau and their son the art historian and performance artist Didier Morelli.

EM: First, thank you for chatting with me about your work Transatlantic Walk 1945-1985 (1985). I cite your work in chapter six (Rituals) in the subsection on “Contemplation.” How would you describe the work for people who might not be familiar with it?

FM: Walking and collecting water from fountains, canals, and rivers in five European and three American cities, the Transatlantic Walk 1945-1985 began on August 6, 1984, at CheckPoint Charlie at the Berlin Wall on the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and ended September 2, 1984, in Philadelphia.  With ideas of fusion and fission in mind, when asked what I was doing I would say “I’ve been walking for forty years carrying my friend to America.” Contesting the tradition of commemorative public monuments, these ephemeral actions used public water sources to bathe, fill, care and heal my ailing counterpart.  A peripatetic journey of site responsive symbolic actions, durational carrying while walking highlighted societal checks and balances while testing the limits of normative behavior. Built on these relational and kinesthetic dynamics, the work raised political, psychological, and environmental concerns of a post-nuclear existence.

EM: What are your thoughts on walking as artistic practice?

FM: While the act of representing moving figures in motion captured the imagination of sculptors for centuries, the question today of mobility and freedom of movement remain central to art and the human condition. I began by walking lines that celebrated the space and time in between places and I have come to understand how these process driven actions intersected with others and led to a relational understanding of what it means to be human and an artist today.

EM: Can you tell us about any recent or upcoming projects you are excited about?

FM: With the 1916 calligramme poem Il pleut (1916) by Guillaume Apollinaire as a score, I will be walking in Montreal’s balancing a large Y shaped tree branch yoke on my shoulders.  Fitted with small laboratory porcelain measuring cups, I will be using this this sculptural prosthesis to collect snowflakes and raindrops for a concurrent exhibition at the neighboring gallery. This month-long action and exhibition will feature water inspired art by Toronto based artsist Ed Pien and myself.

As part of the release of the hardcover/ e-book release of my book, Walking as Artistic Practice (softcover comes out in April!), I’m going to be publishing some brief interviews with the various artists, authors, researchers, creatives, collectives, and platforms whose art practice, written material, or other works I cite and mention.

My 14th interview in this series is with Barbara Lounder who lives and makes art in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Her studio practice is interdisciplinary and currently centres on walking. In addition to making and presenting her work, Lounder publishes and speaks on topics related to contemporary art, walking and other aspects of mobility, social activism and art education.

EM: First, thank you for chatting with me about your works. I cite your work, Pedestrian Detour (2010) in chapter eight (Activism) in the subsection on “Performances, Attire, and Props.” I also cite Stamp Sticks (2007) in chapter nine (Connections to Drawing) in the subsection on “Leaving Traces.” How would you describe these two works for people who might not be familiar with them.

BL: I did “Pedestrian Detour” during a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts. The Centre was undergoing major renovations to infrastructure at the time, and many of the walking paths were off limits. I became interested in how pedestrian access was directed in this environment, using visual tools such as wayfinding signage and the high-visibility clothing of the work crews. “Pedestrian Detour” encompasses several different “sketches” or actions done in this context. In one, two participants walked through a busy construction zone wearing high-visibility blindfolds and using fluorescent walking sticks that I made. The walkers became moving points, like cursors, in the topography. 

Stamp Sticks, also done as a sketch at the Banff Centre, was made in the Fall, when the trembling aspen trees display a vibrant yellow hue. The experience of seeing the leaves trembling on the trees, and then the brilliance of them after they fell to the ground, was stunning. I contrasted that immediacy of direct experience with the remote modes that we use in so much of everyday life and made a stamp with the @ symbol on it that I affixed to the bottom of a walking stick. 

EM: What are your thoughts on walking as artistic practice?

BL: There are currently many different interests, motivations and approaches evident in walking as artistic practice, from highly personal and meditative approaches, to works that are socially engaged and activist in intent. What they all share is a foundation in embodied, multisensorial modes of movement, and an engagement with space as an enlivened context. My interests in walking as an artistic practice stem from my background making sculpture and installations, and my curiosity about the spaces between and around forms or subjects. These are the spaces where we walk, and they are charged with geology, history, memory, stories. And they are always changing as we move through them.

EM: Can you tell us about any recent or upcoming projects you are excited about?

BL: When the Corona Virus 19 (COVID 19) pandemic emerged, I became interested in a headstone in a local cemetery. It’s for a young woman named Corona Walker, who died in 1889 at the age of 18. I had seen the headstone many times, and it had been a point of reference in earlier walking art works, but the pandemic circumstances persuaded me to make it my focus. I did 7 public walking art events as part of Corona Walker, and quite a lot of researching and writing. Now I’m working on a manuscript about this project, with the hopes of publishing a book. I wrote a short, illustrated description of the Corona Walker project a few years ago, and it is online at https://www.livingmaps.org/barbara-lounder